Abstract
Conventional thermal pyranometers and pyheliometers used to measure solar radiation are unable to follow rapid changes of radiation associated with clear/cloudy transitions during partly cloudy conditions. As a consequence, significant errors can occur in the measurement of individual instantaneous radiation values. A simple model for the dynamic response of thermal radiation instruments is developed. The model suggests that the readings of a thermal radiometer can be corrected using the rate of change of the indicated reading and the instrument time constant. It is shown experimentally that the error correction applied to the signal of a thermal pyranometer yields almost identical results as a photovoltaic pyranometer. The error correction allows conventional thermal radiation instruments to be used for instantaneous radiation measurements.
Users
Please
log in to take part in the discussion (add own reviews or comments).